On December 15th, 2019, Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act will once again come up for sunset. For years, the FBI and NSA used Section 215 to secretly collect all telephone records across the United States. The USA FREEDOM Act restricted this practice, yet under only one sub-provision of Section 215, the NSA acquired over 534 million phone records in 2017.

To answer some of the many questions around Section 215, Marcy Wheeler will debut findings from a new report she has authored for Demand Progress on the authority, and Alex Abdo will walk you through his team’s historic successes and setbacks challenging mass surveillance in court. In turn, this panel will explain what Congress and the public know about Section 215 and what they need to find out before it comes back up for reauthorization.

PANEL:

Alex Abdo, senior staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute. While at the ACLU in 2015, Abdo argued an appeal that resulted in the Second Circuit invalidating the NSA’s bulk call-records program.

Marcy Wheeler, senior fellow at the Center for Cyber & Homeland Security at George Washington University. Wheeler is also the primary author and owner of the blog emptywheel and the primary author of two Demand Progress reports chronicling mass surveillance under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Widespread availability of advanced encryption technology has improved security for consumers and businesses. But as digital products and services have become more secure, some in the law enforcement and intelligence communities have voiced concerns that encryption inhibits their ability to prevent terrorism and prosecute crimes.

For example, the Department of Justice is exploring a potential legal mandate requiring companies to design their technologies to allow law enforcement to access consumer data during criminal investigations. While it is important for law enforcement to have the right tools to prevent and solve crimes, history suggests that attempts to limit encryption are impractical, impede progress in information security, create new cybersecurity vulnerabilities, and make it more difficult for U.S. companies to compete abroad.

Please join the Fourth Amendment Advisory Committee and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) for an expert panel discussion on how policymakers can protect consumer and business access to encryption and put in place policies that both encourage advances in cryptography and protect the rule of law. This event will feature opening remarks by Representative Suzan DelBene (D-WA).

At Zero Tolerance: Rights at the Border and Ports of Entry, experts who know exactly what's going on at the border will discuss the current situation and what Congress can do about it. The panel will explore the Fourth Amendment implications of border prosecutions, the surveillance provided for by immigration bills that purport to solve immigration issues, what the zero tolerance policy looks like in practice, and the competing immigration bills and policies at play.

The CLOUD Act: Rain or Shine?

International law enforcement's access to private information is contentious and complicated. The Supreme Court recently heard arguments in U.S. v. Microsoft, and the CLOUD Act has been introduced in the House and Senate. This panel discussion will examine the CLOUD Act, review the issues before the Supreme Court, and discuss the role of Congress in the cloud.

The Color of Surveillance: Disproportionate Impacts of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance

As Congress considers renewal of a powerful government surveillance authority, Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act, this panel will offer perspectives on the long-standing disproportionate impacts of foreign intelligence surveillance.

Please join us and some of the experts and advocates at the center of this discussion for a conversation on how foreign intelligence surveillance intersects with race, class, and policy.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28th at 12:00 p.m.Rayburn HOB, Room 2226, Washington, DCSnacks and refreshments will be served.

Companies' ability and responsibility to keep people's information private has massive consequences on individuals' privacy rights. As the kinds and volume of data they hold about us continue to grow so does the significance of their role as a steward of the public's information.

Please join the Fourth Amendment Advisory Committee for a conversation with some of the companies and organizations at the center of this discussion, including Google, the i2Coalition, Mozilla, and Twilio.

What privacy issues do they see as most in need of Congressional attention? What vulnerabilities pose the greatest risks to the public? Some topics we'll cover are cross-border data sharing, encryption, ECPA, and Section 702.

TUESDAY, September 19th at 1:00 p.m.Rayburn HOB Room 2226, Washington, DCSnacks and refreshments will be servedCongressional staff and interns only